Apparatus for the winding of continuous webs

ABSTRACT

Reel winding apparatus comprises two spaced side-by-side support drums (12, 13) and a pivotal carriage (14) which act to support a roll (11) whilst material (16) is being wound thereonto. A transfer device acts to support a prepared roll core (21) and to deliver the core (21) to the support drums (12, 13) when the roll (11) has reached its requisite size. Pressure loading roller (19) maintains the roll (11) and the roll core (21) respectively in contact with at least one of the support drums (12, 13). In use, material is wound onto roll (11) until the roll (11) has reached its requisite size. The carriage (14) is then pivoted to move the reel (11) out of contact with the upstream drum (12) and the prepared reel core (21) is moved into a ready position above the upstream drum (12). A splicing blade (22) cuts the material (16) being fed to the roll (11) and then the leading edge of the cut web (16) wraps about the prepared core (21) and engages double sided adhesive tape thereon. The carriage (14) pivots further and the full roll (11) is released for unloading. Roll core (21) is moved into engagement with the support drums (12, 13) and a new reel core is readied for introduction. The carriage (14) is returned to its vertical position.

The invention concerns the winding of continuous webs, and has moreparticular reference to an apparatus which will allow the automaticunloading of a full reel and the introduction of a prepared reel core inlieu thereof.

According to the present invention there is proposed a reel windingapparatus comprising spaced side-by-side support drums, a support gantryengageable with a roll core supported on and between said drums, atransfer means adapted to support at least one prepared replacement rollcore and to deliver said core to the drums for support thereby, pressureloading means engageable with the core or material wound thereon andadapted to urge said core or material into engagement with one at leastof said drums, and splice cutting means positioned between the drums andadapted for cooperative engagement with a web passing between saiddrums, the support gantry being engageable with a web roll on said drumsand being pivotal to unload said roll therefrom, said web being urgedinto splicing engagement with said cutting means by movement of areplacement core towards the support drums.

According to a preferred feature the support gantry includes a carriagefreely movable relative thereto and the carriage including actuable hookmeans engageable with a roll core.

According to a further preferred feature the carriage is movablerelative to the support gantry by rack and pinion means operable againsta toothed reaction plate, the extent of movement of the carriage beingdetermined by a combination of the rotational and translational motionof the pinion.

According to a still further preferred feature, the transfer meansincludes a pivoted cam lever to receive a roll core and movable hookmeans engageable with a roll core supported on said lever to locate thecore relative to a support drum.

The invention will now be described further, by way of example only,with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating one embodimentthereof and in which:

FIGS. 1a to 1d show, in diagrammatic manner, the successive stages inwinding continuous web material and shows the introduction of a new coreand the unloading of a wound reel; and

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of winding apparatus constructed inaccordance with the invention.

Referring firstly to FIGS. 1a to 1d, FIG. 1a shows a full reel 11supported on driven support drums 12, 13 and ready for unload, theweight of the reel being supported in part by a main reel carriage 14mounted for pivotal motion about the rotational axis 15 of thedownstream support drum 13. The web 16 being wound is drawn from acontinuous supply thereof, not shown, and passes around fixed guiderollers 17, 18 and over the upstream support drum 12.

A riding roll 19, intended for pressure contact with the reel duringinitial reel build up, is in a retracted position above the full reel 11and a prepared reel core 21 is positioned for movement into engagementwith the upstream support drum 12 on displacement of the full reel 11from downstream support drum 13.

A splicing blade 22 is provided between support rolls 12, 13 and ismovable from the retracted position shown in FIG. 1a into operativecutting relationship with the web 16, as will hereafter become apparent.

In the arrangement of parts shown in FIG. 1a both of the support drums12, 13 are being driven.

Once the reel 11 has attained its requisite size the main reel carriage14 is pivotted to move the reel out of contact with the upstream supportdrum 12, the prepared reel core 21 is moved to a position above drum 13,and the splicing blade 22 is moved to a ready position immediately belowthe web 16. This relative disposition of parts is shown in FIG. 1b.

On further movement of the reel core 21 towards the downstream supportdrum 13, the web 16 is displaced so as to engage splicing blade 22, theleading edge of the cut web wrapping about the reel core 21 to engage adouble-sided adhesive tape thereon and such core being loaded intopressure contact with drum 12.

The splicing blade 22 is now retracted, the downstream support drum 13is braked and the main reel carriage 14 continues its pivotal motion toremove the full reel from support drum 13 and releases such reel forunloading. The reel core 21 is now moved into engagement with both ofthe support drums 12, 13, the downstream drum again being in drive mode,and a new reel core (not shown) is readied for introduction.

These further stages are shown in FIGS. 1c and 1d.

Finally the main reel carriage 14 is returned to its vertical positionas shown in FIG. 1a.

As will readily be appreciated, the apparatus as shown diagrammaticallyin FIGS. 1a to 1d will allow the continuous winding of web materialwithout interruption of winding for core replacement. The cores can beprepared in advance and applied automatically to the winding machine aswinding of a reel is completed, and the full reel is unloaded.

The facility for applying pressure to the prepared reel core 21 oninitial engagement with the upstream support drum 12 and during initialreel build-up and for partial support of the reel 21 by the main reelcarriage 14 in the later stages of such build-up ensures uniformity ofwinding.

Referring now to FIG. 2, which illustrates one embodiment of theinvention in front elevation, a twin-drum surface rewind machinecomprises two support drums 31, 32 mounted in spaced side-by-sidedisposition in journals 33, 34 provided on a machine frame 35, a mainreel gantry 36 mounted for pivotal motion about the axis of thedownstream one of the drums, a transfer means 37 at the upstream side ofthe rollers and serving to move prepared reel cores successively to thesupport drums 31, 32, a riding roll 39 movable between operative andinoperative positions with respect to the support drums, and a spliceand cutting means operable on a web moving between and in contact withthe drums.

The main reel gantry 36 comprises an upstanding arm 43 pivotted at itslower end for movement about the rotational axis of support drum 32 anda main piston and cylinder arrangement 44 for effecting such movement,the piston and cylinder arrangement 44 being secured to the lower end ofthe arm 43 at a position in offset disposition with respect to the pivotaxis 45 thereof and extending between such arm and the machine frame 35.The gantry 36 further includes a carriage 46 slidably on the arm 43 andadjustment means 47 for controlling such sliding movement, the carriagesupporting a releasable hook 48 engageable with the end of the core reel49. The adjustment means 47 for the carriage 46 includes a rack 51secured to said carriage 46, a toothed reaction plate 52 fixedly mountedon the arm 43 in spaced disposition with respect to the rack 51, acompound pinion 53 having respective parts thereof in engagement withand between the rack 51 and teeth 50 on plate 52, and a piston andcylinder means 53, 55 supporting the pinion 54 for movement relative tothe toothed plate 52. Upon movement of the piston 54 axially of itscylinder 55 the pinion 53 is moved longitudinally of the plate 52 and isrotated by virtue of the engagement of such pinion with the teethprovided thereon, such rotational movement effecting a sliding movementof the carriage 46 relative to the guide defined on and by the arm, theextent of movement being a composite of the translational and rotationalmovement of the pinion 53 and related also to the gear ratio between theparts of the compound gear. In the present instance this ratio ispreferably 2:1.

The transfer means 37 includes a stand 56 having a first recess 57thereon to support a prepared reel core 38, the stand 56 having a camlever 58 pivotally connected to the remote end thereof, a second recess59 in alignement with the pivot axis of the cam lever 58 and actuatormeans 61 operable on the cam lever 58 to effect pivotal motion thereof,the actuator means 61 comprising a piston and cylinder arrangement 62secured to the machine frame 35 and operable to control the position ofthe cam lever 58 through a linkage 63.

The transfer means 37 further includes a displacement lever 64 pivotallymounted on the machine frame 35 and positionally controlled by adisplacement cylinder 65, the lever 64 being cooperable with a preparedreel core on the stand 56 so as, upon adjustment, to move the core 38from the first recess 57 to the second recess 59.

Movement from recess 59 along the cam 58 is effected by a chain drivemeans, not shown.

A further lever 66 is pivotted on the machine frame 35, said lever 66having a hooked end thereto for engagement with a mandrel coaxial withthe core, there being piston and cylinder means 67 for effectingmovement of the said lever 66 longitudinally of the cam lever 58 fromthe second recess 59 to a position above and adjacent the upstreamsupport drum 31 and thereafter to apply a loading to the core duringinitial building-up. On progressive reel build up the hooked end tolever 66 is withdrawn from the mandrel and pressure is thereafterapplied by riding roll 39. Also with progressive reel build-up thecarriage 46 operates to support the reel and thereby maintain sensiblyuniformity of winding.

The operation of the structure as shown in FIG. 2 is analogous to thatdescribed in relation to FIGS. 1a to 1d and no further description isthought necessary.

The arrangement as hereinproposed has been found to provide a means forthe winding of a continuous web in a ready manner. By suitable timing ofthe operation of the various instrumentalities it is possible for thewinding operation to be automatic. The splice and cutting mechanismavoids the formation of a tail on the wound drum, whilst the provisionof a weight relief facility on the gantry by means of the carriageprovided thereon and the possibility of loading the reel core intoengagement with the support drum or drums does ensure uniformity ofwinding through the full reel build-up.

The apparatus has been found to be eminently suitable for windingheavy/high strength webs.

I claim:
 1. A reel winding apparatus for winding a web material ontoprepared roll cores comprising spaced side-by-side support drumssupporting a first prepared roll core as the material web is woundthereon, a support gantry engageable with said first prepared roll coreat least when it is supported on and between said drums and beingpivotal to unload said first prepared roll core from said support drumsonce a predetermined amount of web material has been wound thereon,transfer means for delivering a second prepared roll core to the supportdrums, pressure loading means engageable with at least the secondprepared roll core and adapted to urge said second prepared roll coreagainst said web material and into engagement with at least a first ofsaid drums, splice cutting means positioned between the drums andadapted for cooperative operation with said pressure loading means uponsaid delivery of said second prepared roll core whereby said pressureloading means depresses said web material into said splice cutting meansto simultaneously sever said web material while permitting the splicingof a remaining free end of said web material onto said second preparedroll core.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support gantryfurther includes a carriage mounted thereon to be freely movablerelative thereto and the carriage includes an actuable hook means forengaging said first prepared roll core.
 3. Apparatus according to claim2, wherein the carriage is movable relative to the support gantry by arack and pinion arrangement, the extent of movement of the carriagebeing determined by a combination of the rotational and translationalmotion of a pinion in said rack and pinion arrangement.
 4. Apparatusaccording to claim 1, characterised in that said transfer means includesa pivoted cam lever to receive a roll core and movable hook meansengageable with a roll core supported on said lever to locate the corerelative to a support drum.
 5. A reel winding apparatus for winding aweb material onto adhesively-prepared roll cores comprising spacedside-by-side support drums supporting a first adhesively prepared rollcore as the material web is wound thereon; transfer means adapted tosupport said first adhesively-prepared roll core and to deliver a secondadhesively-prepared roll core to said support drums; pressure loadingmeans engageable with the second adhesively-prepared roll core andadapted to urge said second adhesively-prepared roll core against saidweb material and into engagement with said drums; splice cutting meanspositioned between said drums for severing said web material upon thedelivery of said second adhesively-prepared roll core to said supportdrums, said pressure loading means compressing said adhesively-preparedroll core into said web material to depress said web material againstsaid splice cutting means for cutting said web material andsimultaneously adhere a free end of said web material to said secondadhesively-prepared roll core; and a support gantry engageable to liftsaid first adhesively-prepared roll core from a first of said drumswhile permitting engagement with a second of said drums during thesevering of said web material by said splice cutting means.